DishTV Set-Top Box Can Now Be Controlled Using Amazon Alexa

DishTV, one of the leading direct-to-home operator in the country has announced that it’s bringing voice-assisted TV viewing by launching its skill for Amazon Alexa. The Dish TV skill will help to users find programs and provide recommendations on programs, movies, sports and music, it said in a statement. DishTV is the first company to launch such skill in the country. The skills can be controlled through Amazon Alexa application, which can be installed for free via Google Play Store.

“We are excited to bring the voice-enabled DishTV Skill to our DTH consumers. Dish TV becomes the first DTH Company in India to power voice-assisted content discovery and recommendations. We will be adding more features to the skill such as personalising search, filtering recommendations, recharging DTH account, subscribing to new channels and scheduling a recording,” Dish TV India Group chief executive officer Anil Dua said.

The Dish TV Alexa Skill can be accessed on all Alexa-enabled devices such as Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Spot and Echo Dot. The skill can also be accessed with the Alexa app available on iOS and Android.

For the setup process, you have to download the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone and download the skill. Post downloading the skill, you can set it up with your devices. Once the setup process completes, you can start interacting with your DishTV using Amazon Alexa. For instance, you can ask Alexa to ‘Change a channel,’ and it will do it for your on the air. This essentially removes the hassle of operating the set-top box with its default remove. Do make a note that users have to link their DishTV subscriber ID inside the Amazon Alexa app.

Arpit spends his day closely following the telecom and tech industry. A music connoisseur and a night owl, he also takes a deep interest in the Indian technology start-up scene and spends rest of his time spilling poetry and stories on paper.